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Saturday, May 17, 2008

1. The tune belonged to Don McLean. The lyrics, to her: "Ilong
long longgo ako..."

"It must be nice--"

Abigailjumped off her table, twirled
to face her attacker and drew her laser. "Rizal? I almost fried you!"

"But you didn't, didn't you? " He smiled and held up a
brown bag. "That's because you could smell breakfast."

She put the laser back in her pocket and took the bag. "Pig?
Again?" She ripped the sandwich in two and handed him his half.
"Couldn't you get me tuna? Or lettuce?"

Rizalwent to her floater and sat
on it. "It's not 'pig,' it's 'ham.' And who eats lettuce?"

She shoved the sandwich into her mouth. "Not I said the
cat."

He was still smiling. "You always say that."

"My mother's expression."

His smile disappeared. "I'm sorry."

Abigailsat on her table. "Don't
be. She chose to die." She took his half of the sandwich and ripped it in
two. She put both pieces in her mouth. While chewing she said, "Another
one of her expressions was, 'We are the choices that we make.' She should have
written greeting cards, my mother. Or
stuck to graffiti."

Rizalfloated towards her. He put a
hand on her shoulder. "Hey, she couldn't have been that bad. I mean, she
raised you well. She taught you Tagalog, for instance. And you got your voice
from her."

Abigaillooked at her watch.
"Oh, let's forget about it! The atmosphere's bad as it is without going in
to my genealogy."

He smiled again. "All right, all right. What do you want to
do?"

"Get back to my job?"

"Seriously? We only have a ten minute break, you know? How
about some loving?" He put his arms around her.

"Oh, oh not yet." She elbowed his ribs. "Not yet
Rizal." She jumped off the table. "You better get back to your
rounds, Milanis doing her rounds, you
know?"

He got off the floater. "All right. But tonight, right?"

"Tonight, yes."

He kissed her on the cheek and left the office.

"Tonight," she said, and got back on the floater. Leaning
back she interfaced with the U-5882. All at once billions of gigabytes assaulted her mind. Phone
calls, emails, conversations. It was a flash flood, but her mind was the best
surf board in the archipelago. She sorted each byte with ease, twirling,
somersaulting, smiling all the while. It was the same damned thing all over
again: the Army's assault on the Constabulary at Fort Prison. There was still
no end to the fight, and there were speculations that Bonifaciowas going to use chemical
weapons. Still the same damned thing. Abigail's
watch remained silent. It was not yet time.

2. When Abigailfinally disconnected, her
watched said six in the evening had come. She shook her head. Milanhad not yet arrived. She was
supposed to bring dinner, as well the ammunition. Abigail began singing again:
"Ilong long longgo ako..." For eight minutes and thirty three seconds
she sang. Then Milan arrived with a backpack. Abigail jumped off her table.
"About time."

"No time to argue. Interface back."

"Why? I just got off."

"Fort Prisons has fallen."

Abigailinterfaced with the U-5882. She saw it, billions and billions of gigabytes. She was no
longer doing surveillance for the Constabulary now, no longer under the
dominion of that terrorist Bonifacio. Now was the time to reveal her true colors, now her secret
identity was to be revealed, now was the time to take pride in being a soldier
of the Army. It was time. Milan, the ammunitions! Abigail disconnected.

The first thing she saw was the laser in Rizal's hands, then Rizal, then Milan's corpse by his feet. Before Rizal shot her she realized Milan no
longer had a head.

3. She regained consciousness she didn't know how long after. She
felt the arm cuffs binding her. Her jacket clung to her skin. She could not
perform an interface.

She didn't open her eyes. She had to know her status as prisoner.
Fort Prisons was one of the last pieces supposed to fall in the Army's endgame,
but it was not the last. She needed Milan's backpack. Oh, Isis be proud! Milan! Milan!

"Open your eyes."

Rizal!

"Open them, or I will shoot you and harvest your brain."

Abigailopened her eyes. She was on
the floater, still at her workstation. Rizalstill had the laser. Milanstill didn't have a head.
Abigail bit her lips.

"Not my fault, she fought."

"We are warriors, you don't have to apologize."

Rizalput the laser down. "The
destruction of Prisons. You must be so happy."

"I'll be even happier when we finally get rid of your
Kingdom."

"My Kingdom? My Kingdom is not of the earth."

"Your Kingdom, your Kingdom. Pig!"

"You're not listening. There is no Kingdom, not anymore. They
have taken Malacañang. Bonifaciois dead."

"Do you have any idea how long you've been unconscious? Don't
you have a nose?"

"What?" Abigailbit her lips as soon as the word came out of
her mouth. She was letting Rizalgoad her! Nose? What did he--
Oh, oh Isis, oh! Her eyes traveled back to Milan's corpse. Maggots were crawling out of the neck. The stench hit her
like a barrage of gigabytes on the U-5882. If her arms weren't bound she would claw at her eyes. She
returned her gaze to Rizal's forehead. "Needless cruelty, there’s a
cauterize function on that thing, you know? Kill me. There is no point. You
have lost the battle. Your rule is over."

"Again with the 'your'! I am a loyal cadre of the Constabulary,
Abigail, but not all males benefit from Bonifacio's Union."

"Then let me go, I will speak in your behalf. You shall be
granted amnesty."

"Your tongue might not be loose, but your mind certainly is.
Amnesty? Your friend Milanwould certainly speak against
that! More forcefully now that she doesn't have a mouth." There was no
bitterness in his voice. Just regret, cold resignation.

"If you're not going to kill me, and you don't want to
surrender, what the hellare you going to do? The Army
knows about this place. It'll be just a matter of hours before my sisters
arrive."

"You were unconscious for almost a day. Milanwasn't much for conversation,
but her backpack was full of tricks." He took the laser and set the corpse
on fire. "Damn maggots. But you must be hungry, what would you like? Ham,
or ham? Milan is an option, of course, but better make your mind up. She's
going to be charcoal in a few minutes."

"You talk too much, for a male."

"Isn't that sexist?"

Abigailcould not respond. Tearsescaped from her eyes.

"You cryjust enough, for an
Amazon." He got off the table and walked towards the floater. With one
hand on the laser, he released Abigail's arm
cuffs. "You are broken. You may go."

Abigailslammed her forehead against
Rizal's nose bridge. The laser fell, and she back flipped to pick it up.
She landed, disintegrated his legs and pressed the laser on his left temple.
"Why? You rapist, why?"

"The Union of the Patriarchywas my life. Bonifaciowasn't benevolent, but he
brought us stability. He would have died eventually, a nobler Patriarch would
have taken his place. Your Army disrupted the cycle! Your Army destroyed any
chance of the Philippinesbeing anything! Better?
Better? I grew up in White Stone Island, you whore! Anything was better than
that!"

"Say your prayers, rapist. Three, two--"

"Kill me and you'll never find out where Milanis."

"Stop. Your. Lies. Three--"

"Groin's not burned, fool. Check the genitals. I don't have
legs, what are you afraid of?"

Abigailput the laser in her pocket.
She took her jacket off and put the fire out with it. She bent down, released
Milan's belt and pulled down the pants. She saw pubic hair and then,
darkness.

4. When she regained consciousness she opened her eyes at once. She
could not feel her left arm. She could not move her left arm. She lay on the
floor. She took a peak at her left arm. Charred. Charred. Her legs she could
feel, they were not charred, but she couldn't move them either. Isis damn the
rapists! Rizal's lies had loosened her mind. Her eyes found him sitting up against
her table. "You dragged me around?"

"You were unconscious for half a day. Milanwas still all cold shoulders.
That is Milan, by the way."

"A trap? In her groin? That is cruel...
even for a male."

"Why complain about my cruelty? Rapist, I'm a rapist."

"You let me incapacitate you, in order to incapacitate me? This
is madness. I'm going to crawl over there and kill you."

"I might not have legs, but I have both arms intact. And the
laser as well."

"You want me to kill you."

"No I don't. Besides, you can't kill me. Not just because you
don't want to, but because you can't."

"Isis have mercy!"

"If you kill me, you'll never know where I put the bombs. When
your sisters find this place, there's still going to be explosions."

"Isis forgive me!"

"I thought the Army didn't have gods?"

"Isis! Isis!"

"Shut up whore! You deserve this."

"Isis destroy the rapist!"

"'Destroy'? I thought you and your sisters preferred the word
'murder'?"

"Isis erase him from the universe's memory!"

"'Primal murder,' isn't that what you people call it? Kill an
oppressor, kill two persons: the oppressor and the oppressed. Any one, not just
Army members, can commit primal murder. Just one murder, towards a Social
Democracy."

"'Social Democracy'? You're not much of a spy, are you? Which
edition of our manifesto have you
read? The third? The second?"

"You really can't resist talking to me."

"You are right, Rizal. What can I say, you have the gift of tongues."

"I give angelic cunnilingus!"

"And I give you my goodbye." She rolled. Her stomach
against the floor, she began her crawl. With her right arm she dragged her left
arm, both her legs and her torso.

"I'm going to fry you! Don't go away!" Rizalshouted.

Abigailremained unfried. She
continued crawling.

5. She crawled up five escalators.

Rizalcaught up with her with the
floater. "There is no exit, you know," he said, "There was, but
now no longer."

"Is this hellthen? Did Beelzebub put you
aside specially for me?"

He shrugged. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with Catholic myth.
That is a Catholic reference, isn't it?"

"How about a truce?"

"A truce? Are you kidding? I have the floater, I have the
laser. This is not a negotiation!"

"If you stop playing your games, I'm not going to kill
myself."

"That's what I want! To break you, my last revenge on the
stupid Army, stupid Amazons, stupid sisters and the stupid Revolution."

"You don't want me to die, because then you'd be here all
alone."

"After you kill yourself I'm going to set the bombs off."

"You can't kill yourself."

Rizalpointed the laser at his
forehead. "Want to bet?"

"Don't you see, you fool? You're a Last Man, you're one of
Bonifacio's precious gems."

Rizal's trigger finger twitched, twitched, twitched. He threw the laser
on the floor. "You whore! How long have you known?"

"Five, six years? I operated on you myself."

He floated three meters directly above her. He jumped.

6. When she regained consciousness she couldn't open her left eye.
"Rizal?" she shouted. "Rizal?" She was back at her
workstation, lying on her table. With only one operational eyeball she could
not scan the whole room. "Rizal, have you figured it out yet?"

"I have." His voice came from Abigail's
left.

She rolled. Her right arm against the table, she saw him on the
floater.

His mouth bled. "I have."

"Very funny, yes?"

"Bonifaciowas a fool, signing the Act.
Give the females some liberty, or else they will all come to the Army. We were
fools! Fools! I should have spoken up!"

"You are just a cog in the machine. Your voice didn't
count."

"And yours does, in the Army?"

"Yes."

"This plan with Milan, the Army didn't plan it."

Abigailrolled onto her back. Staring
at the ceiling she continued to talk. "We are nomads, soldiers attached to
no unit. The Union, the Constabulary, Bonifacio, they all could not figure out an organization without hierarchies.
They could not grasp the concept of spontaneous revolt."

"Spontaneous revolt, yes. Primal murder, maybe. No hierarchies?
No way! Your Army won you this Revolution, with its generals and colonels. Your
Army, your multitude of Amazons."

"There is an old American saying, 'The deeds of the many
outweigh the deeds of the few. But that doesn't mean the few are
useless.'"

"You're making things up!"

"How many hours have I been unconscious?"

"Hours? You've been unconscious a day and a half."

"In the past three days I have: lost an eye, an arm, the
controlof my legs, and my best
friend. I'm going to die soon, so I would have to request that you forgive my
excursions to delusions!"

"You're almost as talkative as I."

"I don't have much to do. I've lost mobility and half my
vision!"

"You want to interface?"

"What?"

"There's no new info coming in, the Army must have disabled all
input capabilities. But hell, there's still billions upon billions of gigabytes here."

"The multitude won the Revolution, but technology played a part
as well."

"Bonifacio, child of whores!" He floated towards her. "How do we do
this?"

First he got off the floater and fell to the floor. Then they found
out the floater was too far from Abigail's
right arm. So Rizalhad to climb up the table and
then jump back up. He failed on his first seven tries. His jaw unhinged, he got
back up on his eight attempt. He floated down to almost the floor. Then he
jumped off, breaking his collar bone. Abigail failed on her first try to get on
the floater. Her nose broken, she got on it on her second try.

Before interfacing, she addressed Rizal: "You'll still be alive when I get back?"

He took so long to answer she thought he was finally dead. "No.
I won't. It's time."

"Thank you for this."

"Consider it a teardrop apology for the ocean of crimes we have
committed."

"I programmed that, you know. Your stupid attempts at
poetry."

"No. My mother, she read rhymes to me as a child."

Abigaildid not reply. She interfaced
with the U-5882. Her body died two days later. Her mind died the day after
that. A month passed before the Army found her, and Milan's headless half-burnt body, and the mad, mad Rizal, singing 'American Pie' off tune, maggots coming out of his ears.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Neo-Unionists bombed the Quiapo Abortion Center a week before Jessie
Mae's thirteenth birthday. Her mother, a
doctor, was one of the 37 killed. Her father, a
doctor, took Jessie Mae and moved to his native Aklan. On her sixteenth
birthday, she moved back to Manila. She visited Quiapo right after she got off
the Elevator. Three years and it hadn't recovered.

After the Revolution Quiapo was a model of prosperity and peace,
with abortionists and Catholics working side by side. Now:

"And that one?"

"That used to be the Quiapo Church. Now it's a swamp."

Now Jessie Maewas twenty seven years old.
Her fatherhad just died, and the
Neo-Unionists added hundreds to their numbers every day. So far, the FeministParty remained in power. But
the Elevator Act was abolished, restricting the use of elevators to travel
around the Philippines, and a referendum had been called, calling for the abolition of the
Pornography Act.

Jessie Maewas a pornographer. She had
wanted to be a pornographer ever since she was ten, when she first read Anais
Nin's Delta of Venus. Neo-Unionist lobbyists claim the pornography
encourages prostitution.

Jessie Maeworked for Speck, a
weekly videomag. Her job was to root out slavers, child pornographers and
prostitution companies, in order to keep pornography as art disassociated from
the garbage that keep popping up in Filipino inboxes.

"How about that one?"

"That used to be the headquarters of the Office of Piracy and
Information Dissemination."

"What's it now?"

"Nobody knows."

That's why she was in Quiapo again. Quiapo, the blight, the only
place in the Philippineswere videophones didn't work.
Quiapo, where no one could access the Internetional. The only place
inaccessible by bullet train. Ilocos was the only place where drugs, alcohol
and cigarettes were legal, Quiapo was the black market’s portal.

Jessie Maehad come to Quiapo to meet
her contact, who had information regarding the headquarters of the Romancers, a
band of pimps that worked for different prostitution companies. They were
reportedly under the pay of the Neo-Unionists.

Vickywas a Justicar of the Office of Execution.
They had worked only once before. Jessie Maehad found the younger woman quite irritating.

"How about that one?"

"That is Pascual's. It's a restaurant. That is the place we are going."

"You don't like me, yes?"

"You're nineteen. You're a Justicar. You kill people for a
living." Jessie Maere-activated manual controls
and prepared to land. "I have no choice but to like you."

Vickypouted. "Well, you don't like liking me,
yes?"

"Yes."

They got off Jessie Mae's car
at the same time. Vickyhad wanted to bring her mobile, fool of a
woman. Jessie Mae looked around. Everything was bright at Pascual's
parking lot. There were only a few cars about, and absolutely no other human
being. Vicky dealt with the robot attendant. Jessie Mae felt her laser under
her coat. The Laser Act had made it legal to carry digital firearms once more,
and she was glad. She hated it that Vicky insisted on bringing only a pistol.
She was going to get murdered in Quiapo, just like her mother,
because of an airhead Justicar.

It was all lights in the restaurant too. Pascual's was
semi-private, but all the booth tubes had their blinds drawn.

"Welcome to Pascual's!"
The maitre de was a robot as well.

"Llanes, party of three."

"FeministParty?" The robot's eyes
shone brighter.

Vickylaughed out loud. "That's hilarious!
You're a Y2K model, yes?"

"Indeed ma'am, programmed with over 2,000 jokes!" The
robot turned to Jessie Mae. "Is there something wrong? You're not a Neo-Unionist, are
you?"

The maitre de gestured, and a robot waiter floated towards them.
This one led her and Vickyto a corner booth tube. Vicky pulled up a
chair for Jessie Mae.

"Here are your menus," the robot said. "Would that be
blinds or no blinds?"

"Blinds please, thank you."

The robot gestured and the rest of Pascual's
disappeared from sight. "Just push the red button when you're ready to
order. My name is Angeloand I am delighted to be of service to you tonight."

"Thank you, Angelo,"
Vickysaid, reading the menu. The
robot floated away. Vicky, eyes still on the menu, said, "Why are you so
nervous?"

"Only the paranoid survive."

"The Union isn't that powerful, JM."

"So you say. But the people are voting for their Acts."
She scanned the menu. "Sometimes I think we should dismantle the Internetional.
The people are getting too much information, they can't assimilate it
properly."

"You sound like a Unionist."

"Yeah well, maybe. You ready to order?"

Vickynodded. She got a salad. Jessie Maehad apple pie. Their dinner was quick and
efficient.

"He's thirty minutes late."

Vickyput her flossing machine on the table.
"He'll be here. Trust me."

"Trust you? He's my contact."

"You're too tense. He'll get here, eat, give us the
information, leave. Then we'll eat again and leave. That's the plan. You
planned it. Nothing's going to go wrong."

The blinds came off and Jessie Maesaw the other booth tubes, all unblinded as
well. About twenty men, all in fatigue, were searching through the tables. They
were all carrying high powered lasers. Except for one, who was wearing a red
gown, and was being dragged around by what looked like a robot gardener. Jessie
Mae was seated twenty meters from the man, but she saw that his nose was broken
and some of his teeth were knocked out.

He was her contact.

Jessie Maetook out her laser. "How
good are you with that pistol?"

Vickyshot the robot gardener's head off. All around
Pascual's costumers brought their videophones out.

Jessie Maejumped off her chair and ran
towards her contact.

2. The lights were still bright at the place she came to. But
whereas Pascual's air smelled of wine, the hospital smelled like alcohol. Ethyl
alcohol.

A robot nurse was standing beside her bed. "Welcome back,
Jessie MaeLlanes. Please wait a moment,
your human companion just went to the comfort room. She has all the information
you need to know. Or do you want to request a doctor? Human or robot?"

"Thank you, my companion will serve the purpose." She
added in a whisper, "Isis, make her be Vicky."

It was Vicky. She
had a cut above her left eyebrow and carried a book under her armpits. "A
moment of privacy, please."

"Very well. If you have any requests, feel free to push the
red--"

"The red button, yes, I know." The robot left and Vickysat at Jessie Mae's
feet. "How you feeling?"

"He's dead?"

"Yes."

"Pascual's?"

"Burned to the ground."

"Was it the Romancers?"

"Them and several other bands of pimps. The Neo-Unionists have
declared the government illegitimate. It's Civil War. The flag of the
Constabulary has been raised."

"No! Isis no!" Jessie Maetried to sit up and found that she couldn't. Twenty
six years on a bed! She brought her arms to her face. Old, sagging. "I
had a will! Why wasn't I given euthanasia?"

"Euthanasia Act's been abolished. We need all the warriors we
can get."

"What?"

"You were a gardener for Speck for nine years. You can
pilot assault bikes, and you know
Quiapo." Vickytook the book out of her armpits and put her hand
of Jessie Mae's. "We've been waiting for you. We shall wait no more. You
have two days to recover, after which I will take you to the retraining
center."

"Isis have mercy!"

"Isis is dead, JM. We have to destroy the Constabulary if you
want her resurrected."

3. When she was released from the hospital three days later, Jessie
Maefound the rest of Manila
mirroring the Quiapo in her head. The once proud spires and towers were broken
shards pointing at heaven. The mess of metal and glass that once glittered with the sunlight
were now bent and shattered on the streets. Vickywas the one who had suggested
the walk to the tenement. Jessie Mae had expected giant robots and aliens.
Instead there were quagmire and swamps.

Jessie Mae's new room too was a swamp. She remembered her grandmother telling
her that the Philippinesused to have slums. At a
corner of the room rats were feeding on a cat's carcass. Jessie Mae found
herself wanting to cry. She was going to live in her grandmother's memories. "This is
good," she said. "This is good." She sat on the folding bed and
began counting the rats.

Vickysat on a monoblock. "This is only temporary.
Once you get reassigned, you'll be living with me at the barracks. You're
probably thinking about food--"

"Of course you do. He was a bestseller," Vickyscratched her chin,
"back then."

"Was he the one who was a sculptor too?"

"No."

"The architect?"

"No."

"The theologian!"

"Yes. Yes."

"Of course, Manansala... What's that he said, about Jesus?"
Jessie Maepinched her lower lips.
"I remember! You remember? How did Jesus walk on water?"

"He turned the water into ice." Vickytook off the book's jacket.
"Of course I remember. Look at his picture. See? Not bad, yes?"

Jessie Maeleaned to look. "Not bad
at all. Whatever happened to him?"

"The Constabulary captured him and tortured him to death."

Jessie Maewanted to invoke the name of
Isis, but out of fear that Vickymight get mad again decided not to. "And
that book?"

"His last. A novel. The Leviticus of Princess Stephanie."

"What's it about? The Old Testament this time?"

"It's about four friends. One of them got raped in her
childhood, and she told the other three. But later on, the three got mad at
her, and started spreading rumors... Princess Stephanie, the girl who was
raped, the three said she lied about that
to them, and everybody else. About getting raped. They said Princess Stephanie
only wanted attention."

"Is it a good read?"

"Its politics is solid." Vickystood up. "Listen, about
the food--"

"I'll just catch some rats." Jessie Maestood up. "Listen, you said you couldn't
tell me at the hospital, but we're at a cemetery now. What happened to Speck?"

Vickywalked over to the room's only window.
"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, yes."

"They closed it down after the Anti-Pornography Act
criminalized pornography again."

"What? How could they have done that? The referendum? You!
You're a Justicar! The Office of Execution--"

"Curious, that. What use would you have of me? I’m untrained,
uninformed. Infirm, weak. Invalid. Tell me the truth, why am I still
alive?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"This is ugly. All of this is ugly."

"We're at war. Twenty two years we've been at war. What do you
expect?"

"I expected the Philippinesto be as beautiful as I left
her. I expected the Party to stay in power." Jessie Maepicked up the folding bed and threw it at the
rats at the corner. They continued eating the corpse. "I expected to wake
up in my own reality! I'm more than fifty years old, I should be a decade
retired!"

Vickywent to her and hugged her. "I'm sorry. I'm
sorry. I watched them all die and I couldn't do anything." Vicky started
sniffing.

Jessie Maepushed her away. "Don't
you dare cry." She went over to the corner, kicked at the rats and picked
up the folding bed. She set it up in front of Vicky. Jessie Mae began to undress.

"What is this?"

"Twenty six years asleep. Twenty six years they took everything
away from me. I'm going to start taking my life back."

4. When she woke up she found herself alone. She found her neck
wounded. She found a note from Vickyas well: "A rat bit you.
Don't worry, I injected you with drugs. Be back with lunch."

Jessie Maegot off the folding bed. Her
eyes found the rats still at their corner. The cat's carcass was gone. They
were feeding on dog now. Her stomach grumbled.

"Isis damn you all." She folded up her bed, carried it to
the corner and smashed the biggest rat's head. "Lunch, Vicky," she smashed another rat's head. "I have lunch
covered."